[Ranma][Fanfic] Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty - Chapter 4: Birth, Births, and Rebirth ======================================================================= Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty Chapter 4: Birth, Births, and Rebirth Ranma 1/2 characters/situations created and copyright by Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan/Kitty/Fuji/Viz - Used without permission Adulthood of a Modern Dynasty series created, written, and copyright 2000 by Jim Lazar An ongoing series set after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga and anime. For maximum enjoyment of this fanfic series, please read my Childhood of Modern Dynasty series before reading Adulthood. E-mail comments and/or criticisms to: jim [at] animeprime.com Make sure to check out my Modern Dynasty website for all released AMD stories, graphics files, and other information: http://www.animeprime.com/ff/md ======================================================================= The are some painful moments in this part, please bear with me. I'd like to say things are smooth sailing after this, but you know that's not the truth. ======================================================================= April 16-17, 2005 - Nerima, Japan "Twins?" Akane asked. Ukyo and Sanma shook their heads. "Triplets?" Ranko asked. Ukyo and Sanma shook their heads. "Qua..." Ranma began to ask, but Nabiki interrupted him. "Wait a second, I've got to take bets on this!" Nabiki smirked and reached for her palm organizer. "Nabiki," Kasumi scolded and then looked at Ukyo and Sanma. "How many?" Sanma mumbled something. "Huh?" "Eight." Jaws dropped to the floor. "Eight..." Akane gasped. "Babies?" Ranko looked down at her own stomach and tried to imagine carrying eight babies. "Impossible." Sanma tapped her stomach. "Yeah, I thought so too at first." Ukyo smiled. "Hey, when I get my husband pregnant, I don't fool around." That broke the tension in the room and they all broke into a burst of laughter. "Well, good luck avoiding stretch marks with that many," Ranko remarked. Sanma smiled. "It's worth it." Ranko studied her sister's face--even if it looked like her wife at present--and saw a glow. A glow that she remembered seeing in the mirror when she was carrying Daiji. "Well, I can't argue with that. I wouldn't trade my time carrying Daiji for anything." Just then, the girl she had carried for nine months ran into the family room. "Ha ha! You can't catch me!!" "Watch me!!" Yohachi retorted as he appeared in the doorway. Eyes widened in horror at seeing the bucket in Yohachi's small hands. Mouths opened to shout a warning when they saw the water arc through the air at Daiji, who was just running past the pregnant Sanma. "Look..." Ranma threw himself into the path of the water. "OUT!!" He took the bulk of the water across his chest, but not all of it. "Sanma!!" Akane shouted and reached towards herself. A high-pitched scream drowned out all the other shouts and cries. Ranma twisted around, expecting to see the pregnant Akane transform into some kind of animal. A MALE animal. A MALE animal that can't carry eight babies. What he saw was a very wet Akane who was still very pregnant. "Huh? Why didn't you change?" Ranma asked. His question was rapidly echoed by several other people in the room. Sanma wrung out her wet blouse. "What? You think we're stupid?" Ukyo smiled as she helped her pregnant husband dry off. "After San-chan transformed during our second invitro attempt we decided we needed a way to prevent that from happening again." "Yeah, we found a supply of that no-get-wet soap from Jusenkyo." Sanma smiled. "Since Jusenkyo dried up, they were selling the stuff cheap." Akane put her hand to her head. "I'm so relieved. I thought you were going to lose the babies." "What's the big deal?" Yohachi said, looking at the adults with his innocent little face. Ranma looked around at his son and frowned. "Yohachi, that was a very bad thing to do. Triggering your sister's curse is wrong and you scared the sh... um... you scared us all." "Oh... sorry." "You will be!" Daiji said as she ran back into the room and tackled her brother. Ukyo and Sanma laughed as the kids tumbled across the room. Sanma looked at Ranma and smiled. "Thanks for trying to save me from the water anyway, Ranma." Ranma smiled awkwardly and shrugged. Sanma continued. "But you really have to learn not to scream like a girl." Ranma remembered the high pitched scream. "That wasn't me!" "It was me." Everyone looked around and saw Kasumi being attended to by her husband. "Huh?" Dr. Tofu looked up from his pregnant wife. "She just went into labor." "Oh my." -A- -M- -D- "Mommy... Mommy!!" Ayami shouted, running into the room as the sun's first rays peeked through the window shades. A pair of weary eyes opened and looked at the little girl run up to her. "Wh... what is it?" "Auntie Kasumi had two babies!" Akane blinked twice. "Huh? Oh... yeah." Her eyes widened as she started to remember the events of the previous night. "She had twins? Wow." She turned and nudged the woman next to her, who was snoring softly by her side. "Hey, honey, wake up." The figure rose and wiped her eyes. "Wh... what is it?" "Kasumi had twins." "Guess she was trying to keep up with us." Ukyo reached over and rubbed Akane's large stomach. Sanma laughed and looked at the little girl. "Where is everyone, Ayami?" Ayami smiled. "My other mommy, Daddy, and Papa-chan are all in the family room." She tugged on Sanma's arm. "Come on, Mommy." Sanma smiled. "Okay... but I'm not your mommy." Ayami squinted and looked closely at Sanma's face. "Yes you are, Mommy!!" Sanma couldn't resist giggling. -A- -M- -D- Ukyo was carrying Ayami in her arms when she walked into the family room where Akane and her husbands were kneeling next to the table with Mousse and Nabiki. Sanma rolled in on her electric wheelchair right behind her wife. Akane looked up and she saw herself come into the room. "Did you sleep well?" Ukyo and Sanma both nodded. "Thank you for letting us stay," Ukyo said, putting Ayami down and kneeling next to the table. "You're always welcome." Akane said, smiling. "Mommy, why are you so fat?" Ayami asked, looking at the non-fat Akane. Akane laughed, surprising Ranko and Ranma who usually would have gotten hit for saying that. "Ayami, that isn't your mommy. That's your Uncle Sanma." Ayami looked between the two Akanes. "Uncle Sanma's pretty." Akane and Sanma laughed. "Thanks," Akane said and then kissed Ayami's forehead. Sanma followed suit in kissing the little girl's forehead and then looked at Akane. "So, Kasumi had twins, huh?" Akane nodded. "Yup, one apparently was hiding from the ultrasounds." Ranma laughed. "Hey, Sanma, maybe you have a couple more in there too." Sanma went pale. "Don't even joke about that!!" Ukyo chuckled. "No, we're pretty sure they counted right. They used six eggs and... well... looks like we got a couple sets of twins in the bargain." She patted her husband's pregnant belly. "Looks like we're batting a thousand." Nabiki did some quick calculations. "Actually, if you started with six eggs and got eight babies, your return on your initial investment is a hundred and thirty-three percent." Akane smiled at her sister and then asked Ukyo a question. "Where are you living these days?" Ukyo smiled nervously. "We have a little place in Shinjuku." "I'd love to see it." Ukyo exchanged a worried glance with Sanma before replying. "Um... okay, but it's not much to look at right now. Give us a chance to settle in." Akane smiled. "Okay." "We chose it mostly since it's near the hospital for when the time comes." She took Sanma's hand and held it tightly. "Our doctor wanted us close to that hospital, since it has the best neo-natal care ward in Japan. We went in for a checkup before the tournament and they were amazed at how well Sanma and the babies are doing. They said most women that were carrying eight babies would have been confined to bed for the last two months, not just a wheelchair." Sanma smirked. "I ain't most women." Everyone laughed. Ukyo continued. "He still needs to rest a lot and in a couple more weeks he WILL be confined to bed around the clock." "Awwww... honey..." Ukyo glared at Sanma. "Doctor's orders... and MINE!" Sanma gulped. Ranko smiled. "I know how you feel, man. I was stuck in bed for the last month of my pregnancy. My warden made me comfortable though." She winked at Akane. Sanma shrugged. "I think the doctors are being overcautious. I'm fine." Ukyo rolled her eyes. "You've had eight babies often enough to back up that confidence?" "Well... no," Sanma confessed. Ukyo smiled. "Good." She turned towards Akane. "Honestly. Was Ranko this bad?" Akane laughed. "Worse." -A- -M- -D- "This is Shiruko-" Kasumi indicated the small girl in her left arm. "-and this is Morisaki." She indicated the other small girl in her right arm. Most of her family was gathered around her hospital bed. Akane smiled as she looked at here nieces. "They are so adorable." Hinako squealed with excitement. "Oh, they're so cute!!" She turned to Soun. "I want to have a baby!" Soun's eyes widened and a second later he fainted. Nabiki smirked. "Well, it's better than crying." Then she looked at her step mother as the child tried to wake up her husband. Just then, Sanma and Ukyo appeared at the hospital room's door. Then she remembered the circumstances surrounding Daiji's conception and Yohachi's birth. Her eye caught Mousse's expression as he picked up one of the twins and cradled her in his arms. An unfamiliar feeling washed over her as she studied her boyfriend. "Nabiki?" Nabiki shook herself out of her thoughts. "Huh?" "Do you want to hold Morisaki?" Kasumi repeated the question that Nabiki apparently hadn't heard. Nabiki smiled and took the baby. "Damn, she's so tiny." "Please don't swear in front of my children." Nabiki smiled apologetically. "Sorry." She held a finger out and touched the baby's tiny fingers with her hand. Ami, Kasumi's friend from college, peeked into the room. "Hey, Kasumi?" Kasumi smiled. "Ami, come in and meet my two girls." Ami smiled as she slipped into the crowd. "Wow, you'd do anything to avoid school work, wouldn't you?" Kasumi shook her head. "Some things are more important. How is your internship coming?" Ami smiled. "Pretty good. Haven't killed anyone yet." "Well that's good." "Ah, two proud warriors!" Everyone looked at the door of the room and saw two nurses trying to keep Nipplering--who was in full armor--from entering. "Please, miss... you can't come in!" one of the nurse said. Nipplering raised her hand to drive the point home that no one prevents an Amazon from doing whatever she wanted to. Kasumi's voice stopped Nipplering from rendering the nurses unconscious. "It's okay, nurse, she may come in." The nurse exchanged a look with the other one and then departed. "That Amazon fan club is getting out of hand." The other nurse nodded. "Tell me about it. My little boy says he sees a few outside his kindergarten every day." The first nurse sighed. *********************************************************************** >From the Journal of James Davidson May 21, 2058 I looked over at Sanma as she finished telling me how she had gotten pregnant back in 2005. After I had declined her offer to go see Akane, we ended up talking about Ukyo and her attempts to get pregnant. It sounded like it was a painful, yet joyous, time for them all. "So that's when Hanaki's mother was born, huh?" From the patio that we were sitting on, I chucked a rock into the nearby koi pond. Sanma nodded. "Yeah. They said it was the shock of the near miss transformation that caused her to go into labor, but I think Kasumi was just being polite and didn't want to mention her contractions while we told our story." "Nonsense, I was fine until Yohachi splashed you." We looked back at the door to the South Building and saw Kasumi and my wife standing there. Sanma shrugged. "If you say so." I smiled. "Sanma was just telling me about how he got pregnant and about the birth of my son's grandmother." Kasumi shook her head sadly at Sanma. "I wanted to tell him that story." "Sorry..." Sanma muttered. "You can tell me your version," I offered. Kasumi nodded. "I'll tell you while we go see Akane, okay?" I flinched. "Um... well..." Kasumi and Hanaki both tilted their heads to the side and smiled pleasantly. "Please?" Kasumi said softly. Looking between Kasumi and my wife, I can see where Hanaki got her power of persuasion from. "Okay... but I'd still like to hear about the light." Kasumi smiled sweetly. "I know, but I can't tell you. Sorry." *********************************************************************** April 22, 2005 - Nerima, Japan; Shinjuku, Japan "Oh my..." Kasumi looked up from her two daughters who were contently sucking on her nipples at that moment. "Oh, Akane. Come in and sit down." Akane smiled awkwardly and looked at the breastfeeding babies. "I shouldn't disturb you now." Kasumi smiled sweetly. "Don't worry about it." Akane took a couple steps into the room and smiled. "I wonder how Ukyo and Sanma will handle that?" Kasumi laughed. "They'll manage. So, what brings you here?" "I wanted to see my new nieces and then I'm going down to Shinjuku to see Ukyo and Sanma before I pickup the kids from kindergarten." "Busy day." Akane shrugged. "I'm getting used to it. I saw Tofu taking out the used diapers... it looks like you're busy too." Kasumi nodded. "But we're managing." "So..." Akane trailed off and looked awkwardly at the ground. "Ask your question, Akane." Akane smiled nervously. "I hear you've decided to postpone your internship again." "Tofu should know when to keep things to himself." "Actually, Nipplering heard it from her fiance." Kasumi looked a bit confused. "Huh?" "The paperboy." "Oh... Jitaru. Maybe we should find someone else for Nipplering. He's a bit young for her." "Well, I've tried setting her up once already." "Really, what happened?" "I think he left the country and became a monk in Tibet." Akane giggled. "About your internship..." Kasumi sighed. "I can't leave Tofu by himself to deal with twin girls and Moyashi." "It's still a month before your internship is scheduled to start and they even agreed to a reduced schedule to start." "Akane..." "If you don't start now, they may not have another internship opening for a year or more..." "Akane, I appreciate you trying to help, but this is my decision to make with my husband." "Okay... but we're all here to help if you need it. Even Nabiki offered to change diapers for you." "I find that hard to believe," Kasumi said, sounding unusually skeptical. "Well... she offered to buy diapers for you. She has a friend who has a friend with connections in the diaper industry." "That sounds like our sister." Kasumi laughed, causing her two daughters to gurgle as their lips separated from their mother's teats. -A- -M- -D- Akane frowned and checked the address again. "This can't be right." She looked up from the paper at the building front of her. She looked up and down the busy street in Shinjuku. "Nabiki must have gotten the wrong address." "Hey, babe, want to go down the street with me?" Akane scowled at the obviously drunk man. "No." "Come on... I'll make it worth your while." The man reached out and grabbed Akane's arm. He realized his mistake the second he became airborne. He started apologizing the instant he slid off the wall Akane's throw had sent him crashing into. "Sorry... sorry... sorry..." Akane took a deep breath and looked back at the building. "Well... just because they live over a strip club doesn't mean it'll be bad." -A- -M- -D- Akane walked past another drunk in the hallway and redoubled her hope that the address was wrong. She reached room five hundred and eight and paused. She turned to leave without knocking and paused when she heard a familiar voice from within the apartment. It took her several minutes of aborted knocks and aborted attempts to leave before Akane finally knocked. She was very surprised by Ukyo's response. "We told you we'd have the money in two days!" Akane swallowed hard. "Um... Ukyo, it's Akane." Almost a half-minute of odd shuffling and banging sounds followed before the door finally opened. Ukyo smiled nervously and straightened her hair. "Akane... what a surprise. Um... come in." She gestured inside. Akane smiled nervously as she entered the room. "I'm sorry for dropping by, but you didn't leave us a phone number." Ukyo frowned when she recalled that she didn't give anyone their address either, but didn't mention it. "Well, that's okay. We don't have a phone anyway." Akane tried not to react to the small, dingy single room apartment she was led into, but couldn't keep her shock and concern off her face. "I know it's not much, but..." "Ukyo... this is... interesting." Ukyo chuckled. "Very tactful, Akane." She sighed. "I know it's a horrible dive, but it's our home for the time being." "Why?" Akane realized how bad that sounded the second she said it. "Oh... I'm sorry, I meant... well... the government did pay all the property owners a fair sum after the monolith blew and... well, your okonomiyaki can't be beat." "Yes..." Ukyo took a deep breath. "We didn't want to talk about this, but... well, the invitro fertilizations are very expensive and we've gone through most of our savings just to get Sanma pregnant." "Ukyo... you should have told us. We have more than enough room in our house for you." Ukyo shook her head. "I appreciate it, but we're not broke. We have money, but we're just saving it for after the babies are born." Akane looked around. "Are you sure?" She crushed a cockroach with her fist. "Yeah..." Akane watched the cockroach shake off her previous punch and start to move away. "Well..." She charged up a little chi ball and blasted the cockroach into tiny fragments. Ukyo smiled, trying to look happier than she felt inside. "It's close to work and the hospital." "If you're sure... but you always have a room at our place if you need it." "I appreciate it, but we're fine here." Ukyo spun around quickly, grabbing a throwing spatula from her pocket as she did so. The spatula glowed with green energy as it arced through the air and sliced a rat in half. "Really, we're fine." Akane frowned. -A- -M- -D- After talking together for about an hour, Ukyo had to go to work so they said their good-byes and left by different entrances. Akane had taken the old, creaky elevator on the way up and decided that she'd be better off using the stairs. She was wrong. Akane stepped out of the door leading to the apartments and shuddered. She'd faced monsters from hell, crazed fiancees, her own cooking, and even Kuno, but they were nothing compared to the horrors she had to dodge, jump, and render unconscious in the stairwell. She thought about what she could do to help as she wandered through the dirty streets. After walking about four blocks, she stopped when she heard Ukyo's voice from around the corner. "Gentlemen, come right in and get squeaky clean." Akane looked around the corner and covered her mouth in shock. Ukyo was standing in front of a soapland, wearing a pink bunny suit. Fishnet stockings flowed up her long legs to a pink, one-piece leotard and, of course, twin bunny ears topped the ensemble. "Mister, you look like you could use a nice bath." Ukyo smiled at a passing man in a business suit. Akane recovered her wits and scurried away before Ukyo could see her. She got out of the red light district before slumping against a wall, breathing heavily. -A- -M- -D- May 30-June7, 2005 - Shinjuku, Japan A stream of blood splashed across Kasumi's face as she shoved her hand into the man's chest. She used her free arm to wipe the blood off her face while she squeezed the artery shut with her other hand. She looked away. "Where's that clamp?" A nurse in scrubs rushed up, pushing an instrument tray. "Here you go, Doctor," the nurse said as she handed a clamp to Kasumi. "Thank you." Kasumi took the clamp with her free hand and inserted the tip into the wound her other hand was stuck into. After clamping the artery, she pulled her hand out. Another nurse in scrubs rushed over. "The O.R. is ready for him." She stepped towards the front of the gurney. Kasumi was checking the patient's wound and applied a large piece of gauze over the wound. "Okay, make it fast and keep pressure on it." The scrub nurse nodded and reached out and held the gauze to the wound. "Yes, Doctor." With the help of another nurse, she hurried off with the patient. "Doctor!" Kasumi looked up from where she was washing her face and arms in an anti-septic wash basin. "Coming." She rushed over to the gurney the nurse had called out from. Even at the quick pace Kasumi took, she still seemed to look calm and even had time to grab a towel to dry her face and hands off before speaking. "What's the problem?" The nurse looked down at the teenage girl on the gurney. "The paramedics said her leg and arm are broken." Kasumi nodded. "Where does it hurt, dear?" Kasumi asked, running her hand down the girl's left leg, which was clearly bent in at least one too many places. "My left leg and left arm," the girl responded. She grimaced as Kasumi carefully repositioned her leg. Kasumi nodded and moved her hands to the girl's arm. "Anywhere else?" she asked as she took the girl's pulse. "Not really." Kasumi frowned. "Hmmm.." She felt the girl's neck and proceeded down the girl's body, pressing and feeling at certain key points. When she got just below the girl's ribcage, the girl winced. "It hurts there?" The girl gritted her teeth and nodded. Kasumi nodded and started unbuttoning the girl's blouse. "Don't be embarrassed." She opened the blouse and revealed a large discolored area on the girl's chest below her ribcage. Kasumi looked up at the head nurse. "What's the O.R. situation?" The head nurse shook her head. "All full. Maybe in fifteen minutes." Kasumi frowned and looked at the nurse by the girl's side. "Twenty C.C.s of lidocain and get me a surgical tray." The nurse frowned. "Just do it." Kasumi put her hand to the side of the girl's head. "Don't worry, everything will be okay." The girl smiled slightly. Kasumi strode over to the head nurse. "I need to get this girl into an O.R. or we'll have to open her up here." "What's the diagnosis?" "Internal bleeding in the lower thoracic cavity." The head nurse's eyes widened. "I'll... see what I can do." The teenage girl suddenly cried out in pain. "Make it fast," Kasumi said as she rushed back to the girl's side. -A- -M- -D- Hours later, Kasumi collapsed into a couch in the Doctors' lounge looking unusually weary and disheveled. A tall man with graying temples walked in. "Good work out there, Doctor Ono." Kasumi looked up and saw the man. She started to rise, but he put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her down. "Don't worry about that. Relax, you've earned it." "Thank you, Doctor Kon." Doctor Kon sat down in a chair across from Kasumi. "Nothing like getting a huge accident like that on your first day to wear you out. I remember my first day as an intern; one disaster after another." "It was a bit overwhelming at times." Doctor Kon's eyebrow raised. "Really? You carried yourself pretty well out there. I've seen Doctors with years of experience who would have missed that girl with internal bleeding under the circumstances." Kasumi smiled. "Her broken limbs weren't enough to cause her weak pulse." "Well, I just wanted to welcome you to the team and say congratulations." He stood up and bowed. Kasumi bowed from her seated position. "Thank you." Doctor Kon smiled. "Get some rest." Kasumi nodded and watched the doctor leave the lounge. She exhaled deeply and her shoulders slumped. She closed her eyes. Anywhere from one minute to several hours later, a voice interrupted her rest. "Doctor Ono, they just brought in another victim from that collapsed building!" Kasumi eye's popped opened to see one of the E.R.'s nurses in the doorway. "Oh my." -A- -M- -D- "She's unconscious and has multiple wounds to the head and left arm. Some bleeding, but the paramedics indicated she was stable during the ride over," the nurse explained as she rushed back to the E.R. with Kasumi. "Vitals?" "All good. She's also..." Kasumi gasped. "Akane!!" She rushed over the gurney that her sister was on and started examining the wounds. "You know her?" "Yes, she's my... oh my." Kasumi stopped her examination of Akane's head as she noticed something. "She's my brother-in-law. Sort of. Get a neonatal team ready just in case. Multiple births, five weeks premature." The nurse was a bit confused at Kasumi's use of 'brother-in-law', but she nodded her understanding of her orders. "Yes, Doctor. How many infants should we expect?" "Eight." "Wow..." The nurse rushed off, while several other nurses arrived and started attending to Sanma. Kasumi felt Sanma's stomach and felt several spasms ripple through the muscles. "Hmmm..." She looked at one of the nurses. "I need to know if a Ukyo Kuonji was in the list of wounded from the earlier group and if not, try calling the Pink Pussy Soapland and asking for her. Tell her that her husband is here and is in labor." "Okay." One of the nurses--who wasn't confused enough by Kasumi's instructions to stare blankly at her--scurried off. Well, she was confused, but decided to do as much as she understood from Kasumi's instructions. "O.R. five is ready, Doctor Ono!" the head nurse called out. "Okay, I'm going with her, so get someone to cover down here." "Yes, Doctor." -A- -M- -D- "Sanma?" Kasumi repeated as she stitched up the wound on the side of Sanma's head. There was no response. She looked down at the team of obstetricians who were examining Sanma's large stomach. "How are things down there?" One of the doctors looked up. "You were right, she's in labor alright." Another doctor was running an ultrasound monitor over Sanma's exposed belly. "They look good, but I can only discern six heartbeats." He shifted the ultrasound on the belly. "It's hard to be sure under the circumstances." "We're going in." The lead doctor said and looked at the anesthesiologist. "We're using a local anaesthetic, but keep an eye on her." He looked at the waiting crew of neo-natal technicians. "Be ready. They'll be coming out fast." "Miss, you can't go in!" Those words were quickly followed by the sound of an orderly falling to the ground and the sight of a woman in a pink bunny costume bursting through the O.R. room's doors. "SANMA!!" "Ukyo, calm down," Kasumi said quickly. "Sanma's okay, but they have to do a C-section to get the babies." "Kasumi? Thank goodness you're here..." Ukyo rushed to Sanma's side and looked at her husband's face. "What happened?" "A building fell on him." Ukyo blinked twice. "Crap! I knew that apartment was bad, but..." "Scalpel." Ukyo looked down at doctor has he began the incision. "Oh... my..." Kasumi put her hand on Ukyo's shoulder. "Maybe you should wait outside?" Ukyo's expression of horror and concern changed to defiance. "NO!! I'm staying by my husband's side!" The others in the room were too busy to react to the strange statement or even force Ukyo to leave. Ukyo clasped Sanma's hand, trying not to look at all the blood covering her husband's body. "Come on... hang in there, honey." "Pulse is irregular, but strong." "Breathing is good." "I'm making the intrauterine incision." Sanma convulsed. "Dammit... clamp that bleeder!" Ukyo dropped to her knees and put her head into her arms, unable to watch. "Doctor Ono, get her away from the table so we can work!!" The doctor paused to admire Ukyo's form in the bunny suit. Kasumi nodded and pulled Ukyo away from the operating table. She slid the trembling woman into one of the corners. "It'll be alright. Sanma's strong and she's in a strong body." "I shouldn't have gone to work. Sanma said he'd had some twinges." "You couldn't have known the building would collapse." "You never saw our apartment, did you?" A baby's cry was heard, causing Ukyo to look up. "It's a girl." Ukyo strained to see, but they put the baby in an incubator and rushed her out of the O.R. "My baby..." Kasumi knelt down next to Ukyo and wrapped her arms around the new mother. "Shhhh... they're just taking her to be checked by a team of experts since she was born so early." A minute later, another baby's cry was heard. "It's a boy." Then a squeal was heard. Ukyo's eyes went wide. "It's... it's not a pig, is it?" One of the doctor's looked oddly at Ukyo. "Huh? No... it's a girl." Ukyo relaxed. Kasumi smiled and tried to reassure Ukyo. "Shiruko sounded like that when she was born too." "Nurse, wipe down the patient. I can't see what I'm doing with all the blood." "Yes, doctor." Ukyo's eyes went wide. "Not cold water, we ran out of soap!!" Kasumi swore and jumped for the nurse with the sponge. "Don't!!" She didn't reach the nurse in time. The cold water from the sponge flowed across Sanma's bare stomach and chest. In front of everyone's startled eyes, Akane's body split in two. A naked male body was thrown across the room and a smaller redheaded woman was left on the operating table. The doctors and nurses all backed up in surprise. "What the..." "Wha... what's going on?" San-chan asked looking around and shrugging off the facemask that covered her mouth. Kasumi rushed to San-chan side. "San-chan, don't panic, but... you're giving birth." "What?!" San-chan looked down at her large belly and started to thrash around in a blind panic. "But it was only a few weeks ago that they implanted..." Kasumi tried to hold San-chan still while she looked at the shocked doctors and nurses, who were just staring wide-eyed at the redhead on the table. "Forget about the change in patients, I'll explain later." She gestured at San-chan's large, pregnant belly. "Just get those other five babies!!" "Kasumi, wha... what's going on?" A terrified San-chan cried out as the doctors approached her and started to work at the incision again. Kasumi wiped San-chan's sweaty brow off and tried to comfort the terrified woman. "Sanma was carrying the babies in Akane's form and transformed in the middle of an emergency C-section. You have to give birth to the other five." San-chan absorbed this news for several seconds before screaming loudly. "It's a girl!" was shouted as another baby's cry filled the room, just barely being heard above San-chan's scream. The baby was quickly rushed out of the room. "What the... the incision... it's getting smaller," one of the doctors said, as he examined the edge of the incision. Another doctor looked at the spot the first doctor had indicated. "You're right. We'd better hurry." The first doctor nodded and looked at a nurse. "Get the surgical tray ready, we may have to cut again. San-chan's screaming intensified. "San-kun?" Ukyo asked, patting the male Sanma's face in the corner. She ran her fingers across the stitched up wound on the side of his head. Seeing that the wound was partially healed already, she covered his naked body with a sheet she grabbed off a nearby cart and then looked up at Kasumi. "He's out cold. Is San-chan okay?" Kasumi nodded. "Yes... but she's a bit shocked at events." San-chan's screaming continued. "It's a boy!" Ukyo's eyes followed the baby as they placed her into the next incubator and hurried away with her. "He... he didn't cry." Kasumi looked sadly at Ukyo. "They'll do their best." Ukyo trembled. Suddenly, San-chan's screams stopped and her body spasmed. "Damn, she's gone into arrest!" "Begin CPR..." The doctors and nurses went into overdrive, which almost seemed impossible considering how fast they had been working. While one group attended to pulling the babies out of the incision in San-chan's belly, another started to work to keep the mother alive. Both were working under impossible odds. Ukyo strained to see what was going on, but suddenly found that her eyes wouldn't focus and everything started to swim around her. The last thing she heard before she passed out was a baby's cry. -A- -M- -D- "No!!!!" Ukyo screamed as she woke up, breathing heavily. She looked around and gasped when she saw the person in the bed next to hers. "San-kun!!" She looked around the room frantically. "San-chan... San-chan... SAN-CHAN!!" "Calm down, Ukyo." Ukyo looked at the door and saw Kasumi standing there in scrubs that were covered in blood. Ukyo shuddered as she realized whose blood that must be. "Kasumi... where's..." She started looking frantically around the room. Kasumi's weary legs carried her over to Ukyo's hospital bed. "Are you feeling better?" "Um... yeah... where's San-chan? And my babies?" Kasumi sat down on the edge of Ukyo's hospital bed and took her hand. "There were some complications. The shock to her system caused her to go into..." "Tell me!!" Ukyo snapped. Kasumi looked downwards. "I'm sorry, but San-chan passed away." A wail emanated from Ukyo's mouth and she started to tremble. Kasumi pulled the distraught woman into an embrace. "I'm sorry." "No... no... no..." Kasumi's tears dripped onto Ukyo's back. "Just let it out, Ukyo." "Why... why...." Ukyo managed to mutter between sobs. "As far as I can tell, the physical shock of the transformation and her mental shock at suddenly being pregnant caused her heart to stop." Ukyo didn't really care about the technical reason, she just wanted to know why she had to lose someone she loved. "San-chan..." She exhaled and glanced at the other half of her husband. She confirmed that his breathing was even and unlabored before asking her next question, afraid of what the answer might be. "My babies?" Kasumi tightened her grip on Ukyo. "Four boys and three girls." Ukyo's eyes widened when the math didn't add up. "Seven..." "I'm sorry, one of them didn't make it. She was a girl. The rest are small, but are in good condition considering..." Ukyo started to shake and the wail reemerged from her throat. -A- -M- -D- Later, Ukyo looked over the long line of incubators with San-kun. Both of them were dressed in hospital robes. "I... I can't believe what we went through to get to this point." "I'm sorry about... well..." San-kun wrapped his arm around Ukyo's shoulder. Ukyo trembled, her face a mixture of pain and exhaustion. Anyone seeing her might assume she had given birth to the babies by her haggard appearance. "All the doctors told us about the risks, but-" Ukyo wiped a tear out of her eye. "-but even knowing that it doesn't change the pain of all this. Losing any of the babies was bad enough, but losing San-chan is... just..." San-kun nodded and tightened his grip around Ukyo's shoulder. "I know. We'll say a proper goodbye to them once things settle down." "But with seven babies, no home, and no job... things won't be settled for quite some time." "Job?" Ukyo nodded. "Yeah, my boss fired me for leaving work without permission. He didn't quite believe that my husband was giving birth." "We'll manage." San-kun leaned down to kiss his wife. "For starters, you do have a home." The couple looked around to see who had interrupted their kiss and saw Akane walk up from behind them. Hugs, kisses and tears were exchanged before Akane explained. "You're going to live with us, no arguments." "But..." Ukyo sputtered. "Ukyo, stop being so stubborn!" Ukyo blinked at hearing that from San-kun. "But..." "If you think I'm going to bring my babies up in a rat infested dive like the one we've been living in, you've got another thing coming." San-kun insisted. Ukyo smiled slightly as she realized that San-kun was putting aside his own pride for their babies' sake, something neither of them had been able to do up until then. Maybe it was the differences between the split Sanmas or maybe it was just San-kun realizing that he couldn't put his pride before his family. Ukyo wasn't sure, but she knew he was right. "Okay..." She looked at Akane. "I appreciate it, but... only until we can find another place." Akane smiled devilishly. "Deal." Ukyo could sense something behind Akane's smile, but didn't have the strength to inquire further. "We should go see San-chan." "Yeah..." San-kun said looking at the children he remembered carrying for eight months. His eyes couldn't help but glance at the empty incubator in the back of the room. -A- -M- -D- "Are you sure you want to do this?" Akane asked outside a door marked 'Morgue'. "Yes..." Ukyo's response came out very softly and was nearly inaudible. "Ukyo, maybe it's better if you don't," San-kun suggested, motioning her away from the door with his hand. "I just have to say goodbye. She's part of you and... I'll..." Ukyo's words trailed off into sobs. Akane shuddered as she remembered her last view of her mother with her face covered by a small piece of cloth. "Just remember that you still have friends and family that love you. Including your husband." Ukyo looked at Akane. "Would you feel better if you still had just one of your husbands?" Akane flinched. "No... of course not." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make her death seem trivial. I do understand how you feel, when I thought I lost Ranko and Sanma in Australia..." Her voice trailed off, not wanting to remember the painful memory. Especially since half--or is that a third now with San-chan gone?--of that memory was now married to Ukyo, which in itself was a painful memory. Ukyo nodded her understanding and then looked back at the double doors. "Let's do this." She took a deep breath and stepped past Akane and San-kun, pushing open the morgue's doors. She paused as she saw the red hair sticking out from under a green sheet on a nearby gurney. The sheet was soaked through with blood, while the small cloth covering the young woman's face was pure white and glowed under the light that hung over the gurney. "San-chan." Ukyo took a few steps forward, Akane and San-kun matching her movements. She paused a meter or so from the body and started to cry. "Oh... San-chan." "I'll miss her." Ukyo looked back at San-kun. "You two never really got along." "Yeah... well... that doesn't mean I didn't love her." Akane nodded. "Ranma and Ranko are the same way; they fight, but I know they care for each other." Ukyo held out a shaking hand towards the covered figure. "Do you want to see her face?" San-kun asked, taking a step towards the body. Ukyo nodded. San-kun stepped forward and pulled the cloth off San-chan's ashen face, hiding it from Ukyo with his body just in case it wasn't a pleasant sight. "She looks so peaceful." He stepped aside to let Ukyo see San-chan. Tears formed in Ukyo's eyes. "Yes... and so beautiful." Ukyo took a couple steps forward and held out a shaking finger to San-chan's ashen face. "Goodbye, San-chan. You won't be forgotten." San-kun put his arm around Ukyo's shoulder. "I'll do what I can to fill her place in your heart." Ukyo's eyes widened and she knocked San-kun away. "NO!! She's unique and can't be replaced just like that!!" San-kun stumbled backwards from the unexpected push and crashed into a nearby cart, sending the cart careening across the morge. The cart crashed into a nearby sink, breaking a hose attached to a handheld nozzle used for cleaning the morgue. A powerful stream of water shot across the room from the broken hose, hitting first San-kun and then splashing towards the gurney. As the water touched both San-kun's arm and San-chan's still body, a bright light lit up the previously dimly lit room. The light flowed down the water and into San-chan's body. Akane and Ukyo's eyes widened in surprise as San-kun disappeared and San-chan's body transformed into a panda. "The curse!!" Ukyo shouted and dropped onto the panda's furry chest, listening for a heartbeat. "He's alive!!" Akane looked around and verified that San-kun was nowhere to be seen. "But... but... what does this mean?" Ukyo shook her head. "I'm not sure, but the curse is still working." The panda opened his eyes and sat upright. He saw Ukyo and growled. "Are you alright?" Ukyo asked, running her trembling hand across the panda's muzzle. The panda seemed to concentrate for a while, before suddenly screaming an inhuman cry. Mostly since he wasn't human at that moment, but also because of an intense pain that shot through his mind and body. Ukyo pulled the panda into a hug. Akane looked on confused. "What's wrong?" The panda whipped out a sign and wrote 'I remember' on it. Akane frowned. "Remember what?" 'Remember the birth'. The panda flipped the sign. 'Remember seeing my pregnant body suddenly'. The panda scrawled out a shaky message on the next sign. 'I remember dying..." The furry body trembled at the memories. Ukyo absorbed the information from the signs. "You mean... you remember San-chan's memories?" The panda nodded. Ukyo's eyes widened. The tears of sorrow were slowly replaced by tears of joy. "San-chan is back inside you!!" She jumped into the panda's arms and hung on tightly. "What a blessing..." She smiled when the panda started to purr. "She's been reborn inside you." Akane wiped a tear out of her eye and then backed out of the morgue to leave the happy couple alone. As the doors swung shut behind her, she realized that was exactly how she had felt when Ranko and Sanma had reappeared at her aborted wedding to Ranma. She clutched her chest. -A- -M- -D- The panda reached its furry paw through the flap on the incubator and tentatively touched the skin of their first born daughter. A sign reading 'She's adorable' was held up by one paw as the other gently stroked the baby's face. Ukyo looked up from where she was doing her best to tame a rat's nest of hair on their second born son. "They all are. I can't wait to take them home." 'I ain't breastfeeding them.' Ukyo laughed at the panda's sign and then looked down at her engorged breasts. "Don't worry, the medicine they gave me will let me take care of that." "Need some more help?" The new parents looked behind them and saw Akane and her two husbands at the door. Ukyo smirked. "You volunteering your breasts?" "Our home, our breasts... same thing." Akane smiled. "Yeah, it's not like I'm using them for anything else at the moment," Ranko remarked, cupping her breasts and then looked at Ranma. "Don't look at me!!" -A- -M- -D- "Seto." Ukyo read off the list and looked up. "A male name." The panda's eyes looked between the four boys and after a few moments, he pointed at a baby. Ukyo looked at all the babies and then pointed at the largest boy. "That one." The panda looked at the boy she pointed out and nodded. 'Yeah... it suits him better.' "Good, that's one down." Ukyo made a note on her list and then wrote the name on the baby's incubator. "Iori, a girl's name." The panda held up a sign reading 'I never did like that name' remembering the long discussions he and Ukyo had in which they had come up with the eight names. Ukyo smiled. "I do, it's so sweet and adorable." 'Yeah, that's the problem.' Ukyo laughed. "We're not changing any of the names we already agreed to. It took us weeks to finally decide on these eight and I'm not going to go through that again." She scanned her daughters. "So which one looks like an Iori?" After several brief arguments, one of the girls was given her name. It was quickly recorded and written on the incubator. "Itsuki." 'What a manly name!!' the sign insisted as the panda looked at his sons. "It's a girl's name actually." The panda frowned. 'You sure?' Ukyo nodded. "It was my mother's name." 'Oh... well, then the prettiest girl should have it.' The panda smiled dashingly. A half-hour elapsed as they sorted out the last of the names. Leaving only one left over. "Seto-" Ukyo read the names off and looked at each baby in turn, starting with the four boys. "-Kida, Isai, Teratani, Izumi, Itsuki, and little Iori." She took a deep breath. The panda put his arm around Ukyo. Ukyo snuggled up to the panda's furry chest and listened to his heartbeat. "All three of us did it together." She glanced at the last unassigned girl's name on the list. "Goodbye, Asou." The panda let out a pained growl. -A- -M- -D- A week after the births, Kasumi sat on a single chair positioned in front of a long row of tables. Men of various ages and belt sizes wearing business suits sat on the opposite side of those tables from Kasumi. In the center was Doctor Kon, who was Kasumi's mentor during her internship. "Mrs. Ono, do you expect this committee to accept that explanation?" Kasumi nodded. "Yes, because it's the truth." One of the old men on the end riffled through some documents in front of him. "Some of what you said is backed up by the other doctors and nurses, but not all of it." Kasumi nodded. "I understand that." "The pregnant woman who was admitted has been identified as your sister. But she shows no signs of being pregnant recently or having a C-section." "That is because it was Sanma Kuonji who was admitted." "But she looked like your sister at the time, right?" "Yes, he did." The man banged his head on the table. "Please don't hurt yourself, sir." Kasumi smiled sweetly. Another man took up the questioning. "Mrs. Ono, can you explain why halfway through the birth the patient changed from a woman with short hair to a smaller woman with long red hair." "That was in my report, sir." The man asking the question sighed. "The curse." Kasumi nodded. "And this curse changes the appearance of the mother?" "That is correct, sir." "So the woman who was in the morgue of this hospital was Sanma Kuonji?" "Half of him, yes." "And the other half?" "He recombined with his girl side and is now at my father's home with his wife." One of the men frowned. "And he's the father of the babies?" "Yes, and the surrogate mother. His wife provided the eggs." "Are you trying to tell us that Sanma Kuonji is both the father and surrogate mother of the seven children in the neo-natal ward?" "Yes, sir." A pause. "Please don't hurt yourself, sir." The man at the end of the table flipped a page over. "Um... we'll just skip this bit about the panda, okay?" He glanced at his associates and received quick agreement from them. The questions continued back and forth for another hour, at which point Kasumi was still sitting calmly in her chair. The men, on the other hand, were sweating and were apparently in a state of exhaustion, as evidenced by their sweat stained clothes and trembling hands. "Is that your final answer?" Doctor Kon asked. Kasumi nodded. "Yes, sir, it is." The men huddled together and exchanged whispers for several minutes. Finally, Doctor Kon straightened up and tried not to let the exhaustion show on his face. "We've made our decision." Kasumi stood up and faced the committee, hoping for the best. "Mrs. Ono, the committee's recommendation is that we just forget that this whole convoluted mess happened and go on with our lives. As far as the records are concerned, a redheaded woman named Sanma Kuonji was admitted and she gave birth to eight children, one of which was stillborn. At the parent's request, Ukyo Kuonji is listed as the mother and Sanma Kuonji as the father." "Thank you, Doctors." Kasumi bowed. "That'll be all." Kasumi bowed again and then walked towards the exit. "Don't forget you have a shift first thing in the morning, Doctor Ono." Kasumi was smiling broadly as she left the room. *********************************************************************** >From the Journal of James Davidson May 21, 2058 "Well, that explains the lack of detailed records surrounding those births." Kasumi nodded her acknowledgement. I smiled and brought up one of my research vaults on my wristtop and read an entry. "Patient's name: Sanma Kuonji. Sex: Female. Mother: Ukyo Kuonji. Father and surrogate mother: Sanma Kuonji." I saw Sanma flinch out of the corner of my eye. "Admitting physician: Doctor Kasumi Ono. Quite a remarkable first day on the job." Kasumi smiled and nodded. "And I've never looked back. I had to shuffle a lot around, but I managed to bring my three children up with the help of my dear Tofu and still keep practicing medicine." "That must have come in handy through the years." "Yes, I don't know how often I've had to patch up a friend or a family member." Kasumi took a deep breath. "Or hold their hand as they slipped away." I couldn't help but glance through the glass at Akane. She was still hooked up to more electronic equipment than most people had in their homes. Sanma reached over and took Kasumi's hand. "You saved a lot of people, including me." "San-chan did die on that table." Sanma smiled. "Yeah, but that worked out okay in the end. If you didn't force those doctors out of their stupor and back into action after the split, I'd could've lost all of the babies that I was still carrying." Kasumi nodded. "That would have been horrible." "Yeah, Jaki's dad would have thought so." I concentrated on the birth records I had dug up. "Um... her father was the last boy born, right?" Hanaki nodded. "Yup." Sanma shook his head. "No... he wasn't." *********************************************************************** July 4-16, 2005 - Nerima, Japan Ukyo and her furry husband came into the Tendo house, each carrying a small baby in each of their arms. Ranma, Ranko, and Akane followed with another three babies between them. Kasumi and Tofu brought up the rear of the parade of babies with their twins. Moyashi was hanging onto his mother's skirt. "Carry me!" "Shush, dear. Later," Kasumi calmly replied to her son. Soun, Hinako and the kids all swarmed around them when they appeared in the hallway outside the family room. "They are so cute!" Hinako exclaimed and started jumping around. She looked at Soun suddenly. "I want a baby." Soun shuddered. "Grandpa!! " Ayami shouted and wrapped her arms around the panda's leg. Ukyo smiled. "That's actually your Uncle Sanma." Ayami looked up the panda's body. "Cool!!" The panda chuckled. The adults all laughed. The babies all started to cry. It started with Seto and flowed down the line until Kasumi's twins joined the chorus. Akane was the first to check. "Mine's not wet." "Me neither." "Nope." "Nothing here." 'Ewww...' Ukyo smiled at her husband's sign. "You know the rule, honey... whoever's holding the baby at the time changes it." The panda held up a sign reading 'Dang rule... it sounded good when someone else had the wet baby.' -A- -M- -D- Over the following week, the Tendo household slowly got into a routine of feeding the babies--Ukyo, Akane, and Ranko sharing that duty--and changing the babies--Sanma and Ranma being the chief diaper changers. That was the first time Ranma actually missed having breasts because--as he put it--he'd rather put milk in one end than deal with what comes out the other end. One sunny morning, Ukyo stretched her arms as she rose beside her furry husband. She looked around the upstairs room they shared with their seven babies. She got to her feet and then walked to the nearest crib. "Good morning, Seto." She tickled her oldest boy's stomach and then worked her way down the line as she had done every morning since they had brought the babies home. She reached the second to last and tickled Teratani's stomach then bent down to kiss him. "Good morn..." She screamed. The panda's eyes shot open and looked up to see his wife frantically reaching into one of the cribs. He growled questioningly. Ukyo's head snapped to the side. "Teratani's not breathing!!" She quickly glanced at the last baby that she hadn't checked yet and confirmed that she was okay. The panda's eyes went wide and shot to his wife's side in a heartbeat. Something Teratani didn't have at that moment. Akane, Ranko, and Ranma appeared in the door a few seconds later. "What's going on?" Ranko asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Ukyo's tear stained face looked at them. "Teratani..." Her face said the rest. "I'll call for an ambulance!!" Akane yelled as she raced back down the stairs. "I'll get Dr. Tofu or Kasumi!!" Ranma shouted as he jumped through the hallway window, which was closed up until the point he crashed though it. He had no time for such things as opening the window first. Teratani didn't either. Ukyo was bent over her son, trying to resuscitate him. "Dammit... how did that blonde do this?!" she shouted with a strained and trembling voice. Ranko shot forward. "Here, I saw how she did it." Ukyo moved aside and Ranko started to alternately blow into the baby's mouth and press up and down on his chest. "Come on..." Ukyo clung to her husband's fur, trying her best to remain vertical. "No... no... no..." All around them, the other babies started to cry one after the other, almost as if they could sense the plight of their brother. Tears were steaming down Ranko's cheeks as she looked at Ukyo and Sanma. "He's still not..." The panda let out a mighty roar and grabbed his son. In a blur of black and white, he disappeared through the hole Ranma had already made. "Where..." Ukyo gasped as she realized what her husband was doing. "The hospital!!" She leapt through the window and followed her husband. Ranko almost followed them, but realized she should stay with the other babies. She went from crib to crib and tried to stop them from crying, but only succeeded in ending up in tears when she came to the empty crib. "No..." -A- -M- -D- The rain poured onto the empty lot where Ucchan's used to stand, pelting the umbrellas of the dozen or so people who were standing silently around the small shrine. A large tarp was propped up over the shrine to keep the two figures kneeling in front of it dry. Soun and Hinako--in her adult form thanks to a bag containing her fighting fish she had strapped to her waist--huddled closely together under a large umbrella and shivered as the cold wind that blew through Nerima chilled them to their bones. Nabiki and Mousse were even closer together under their large umbrella, partly out of sorrow and partly to keep the rain from splashing Mousse. Kasumi and Dr. Tofu looked on sadly as Ukyo lit a stick of incense and put it on the shrine. Akane and her two husbands held their hands together in prayer as they watched Ukyo and Sanma say goodbye. All around them, the entire complement of Amazons that called the Compound their home stood at attention and silently paid their respect to the fallen children. They had no umbrellas since Amazons feared nothing, not even the rain. Ukyo sighed and leaned against her husband's furry side for support. "We've been blessed with six healthy children, but at a price." The panda growled. "Maigo," Ukyo read the first name on the shrine. "Stolen from my husband's womb." The panda growled in pain. "The unnamed children." Ukyo paused as she traced the three blank spaces on the shrine. "My lost child." She touched her own stomach. "And two for the two attempts that San-chan made to give us a child, but was denied that joy." She reached over and touched the panda's stomach. She took a deep breath and held a shaky hand out to the next one. "Asou." She looked up at the tarp and let her tears roll down her face. "I never even had a chance to hold her in my arms or see her smile." She reached down and picked up a small urn and put it on the left side of the shrine. "Goodbye, my daughter." She trembled and almost fell backwards. The panda ignored the slight rain dripping down on his arms and steadied his wife with his paws. Ukyo took another deep breath. "Teratani." She reached down and picked up another small urn. "You were my darling little boy. Never causing a fuss, always patiently waiting for your turn during feeding time, always..." She collapsed to the ground and held the urn to her chest. The panda crouched behind Ukyo and wrapped his arms around her trembling wife. Akane and the others wanted to help, but knew they could only watch and lend their prayers to the young couple as they once again had to say goodbye to lost children. "WHY!!" Ukyo screamed. "You were all healthy when we left the hospital... we were so happy... so... we were so... why... why did I have to lose another!" The panda wiped the tears from his wife's eyes with his fur and growled softly. "Teratani..." Ukyo said in a trembling voice after several minutes of silence. "Goodbye, my son." Ukyo felt the panda's paws tighten around her and she clutched them for support. Several minutes passed as the grieving parents said goodbye. Ukyo looked at her husband and nodded. The panda pulled two fancy rattles out of his fur and placed them on the shelf that projected from the front of the shrine. Ukyo spoke. "Take these to play with, my children." She picked up each rattle and shook it and then opened a drawer on the shrine. She placed the two rattles inside and then pulled out the four that were already inside and shook them sadly. "Play nice, children, or Mommy will be sad." A startled gasp came from behind her. Ukyo and the panda looked around to see Kasumi shaking. 'Are you alright, Kasumi?' the panda asked with a sign. "Tha... that golden rattle." Ukyo looked at the tarnished rattle she held in her left hand. "Yeah... Sanma used it to say good bye to Maigo." She wiped her eyes. Kasumi took a few shaky steps forward, ignoring the rain as it poured down on her. "Where did you get it?" Ukyo frowned. "Um, I think Sanma said he found it in the ruins of the Tendo's old house after the monolith exploded." "Tha... that..." Kasumi went silent. "Sorry, I shouldn't have interrupted." "What is it?" Ukyo asked. Kasumi shook her head. "It's nothing important." Akane had been looking between Kasumi and the rattle and finally gasped. "Kasumi, that's..." Kasumi looked at Akane. "It's not as important as their loss." Akane opened her mouth to speak, but shut it when she saw the stern expression on her oldest sister's face. The panda growled a question, forgetting about his signs. Somehow Ukyo knew the question. "Kasumi, please, tell us what you're upset about." Kasumi looked at Ukyo. "It's... it's a Tendo family heirloom. For as long as we can recall, the first born child of any Tendo has played with it. I had given up all hope of finding it after seeing the condition the house was in and I bought a new one for Moyashi to carry on the tradition." Ukyo and the panda's eyes went wide in unison. They looked at each other and then back at Kasumi. "We had no idea... we're sorry." Ukyo put the other rattles back into the shrine and then approached Kasumi with the golden rattle. Kasumi waved her hands in front of her. "No... no. I couldn't. It's Maigo's. He needs it more." 'Kasumi, please take it,' read the sign the panda held up. "No..." Ukyo stepped close to Kasumi and put the rattle against Kasumi's palm. "Kasumi, Maigo is done playing with it now. It's time for another Tendo to play with it." "But... Maigo." "We'll get another one for Maigo." Ukyo pushed the rattle deeper into Kasumi's palm and forced the older woman's hand closed over it. "There is more joy in it being used by the living than the dead." A tear rolled down Kasumi's cheek, mirroring the one that ran down Ukyo's. After several heartbeats and more tears, she finally clutched the rattle to her breast in acceptance. "Thank you. Please let me get another for Maigo." Ukyo smiled slightly and nodded. She turned towards the shrine and took her husband's paw. "Goodbye, our children." She kissed her fingers and touched the six nameplates in turn. The panda growled softly, repeating the gesture. Then he wrapped his arms around his wife and they wept for their lost children one last time before returning home to their other children. To their family. *********************************************************************** >From the Journal of James Davidson May 21, 2058 Sanma wiped a tear out of her eye. "Maybe we made the pain worse by keeping track of each of them." "Sanma, you didn't," Kasumi slipped beside Sanma and patted her hand. "We all have to say goodbye in our own way. You chose the shrine so that you could remember your children, but still let your pain go." Hanaki stood up suddenly--well as suddenly as she could in her condition--and held her hand out. "Come on, Uncle, let's go visit them now." Sanma chuckled. "So much alike." She looked between Hanaki and Kasumi and smiled. -A- -M- -D- We walked into the cemetery that was near the South Gate of the Compound and hung a left. A few meters inside the small fence that bordered the cemetery, a small shrine stood prominently in the middle of a small flower garden. "I'm a bit early this year," Sanma said looking to the left of the shine where an elaborate gravestone stood. An engraved okonomiyaki with two crossed spatulas over the top of it was prominently positioned on the top of the gravestone. That being the Kuonji family seal, of course. "She'll understand," Kasumi said, walking by Sanma's side. "Yeah... she would. I promised her I wouldn't dwell on her death, but it's hard only visiting once a year." Kasumi nodded, looking in the direction of her late husband's grave. "I know." Hanaki and I waited behind them, not wanting to get in the way. Before visiting the shrine, Sanma knelt in front of the gravestone and washed it down with a bucket and ladle she had carried from the entrance to the cemetery. Shortly after, Kasumi lit some incense and put it on the burner. "Akane went and got herself hurt again, but don't worry I'll make sure she doesn't leave your husband alone." Sanma was quietly speaking to his late wife, filling her in with events. One in particular caught my ear. "That troublesome granddaughter of ours almost got killed, but like a true Kuonji she found a way to come back to us." She took a deep breath and put a hand on the grass in front of the gravestone. "But I guess time eventually catches up to us all... Kuonji or not." After paying our respects to Ukyo, we moved over to the small shrine. Together, Sanma and Kasumi lit some incense and then knelt in front of the wooden structure. As they put their hands together to pray, Hanaki and I followed suit. After several minutes, Sanma slid forward and opened a drawer on the shrine. One after the other, he took a rattle out and shook it. After all six were done, he glanced at Kasumi. Kasumi nodded and pulled out an ornate wooden box. Opening it, she pulled a golden rattle out and shook it before handing it to Sanma. Sanma took the rattle and gently shook it in front of the shrine. "Are you happy and having fun?" She answered her own question. "Good." He placed the rattle on the shrine and then pressed his hands together and silently prayed with the rest of us. Several minutes passed before Sanma spoke again. "Goodbye, my children." She reached over and picked up the golden rattle. Shaking it one last time, she put it back into the box Kasumi held out in her hands. Kasumi closed the box and turned towards us. "Hanaki, this is yours now to give to your child and make sure that the tradition continues." Hanaki gasped. "Grandma, you can keep it until our son is born." She touched her stomach. Kasumi shook her head. "No, it's time I let someone else take on this responsibility." Hanaki's trembling hands took the box and bowed to her grandmother. "Thank you, I'll make sure the tradition continues until I can pass it onto my granddaughter." My eyebrows raised. "That's getting ahead of ourselves, isn't it?" Kasumi shook her head. "Baring accidents and lack of granddaughters, the responsibility of safeguarding the rattle always falls to a woman in every other generation." She looked longingly at the box. "I had thought the tradition ended with me, but Sanma saved it from the ashes." Sanma smiled nervously. "I should've asked about it when I found it." Kasumi patted Sanma's hand. "That's okay. Although he complained about playing with a baby's toy when he was four, Moyashi did play with the rattle." Sanma smiled. "Yeah, I remember. Didn't Ayami try to take it away when she grew tired of him rattling it in her face all the time?" Kasumi nodded. "Those two were always in each other's faces." "Kids will be kids." Sanma fingered the edge of the shrine. "Kids will be kids..." A tear dripped down Sanma's cheek. *********************************************************************** August 2005 The sun was low in the sky when a hand pushed a large rock aside and revealed a mangled body beneath it. The partly decomposed body was covered with sand and other debris. The hand reached out and slowly pulled the mangled corpse out of the ground. After the body was straightened out, it became obvious that the male body was only half of the whole. The other half that made up that whole slowly pulled itself alongside the other half using its single arm and hand. Triggered by the proximity of the matching flesh, black tendrils of black flesh stretched out from the half that had crawled halfway around the world using just its single arm and leg. It had arrived in the desert canyon over two years earlier and started to dig through the rocks and debris that had buried its other half since the end of nineteen ninety nine. Black flesh touched black flesh and slowly knitted together the two halves. Considering the years it had taken for the two halves to come together, the three hours it took for the two halves to become one once again and to reform the lost flesh that had decomposed was like the blink of an eye. Not that anyone was around to see it. The sun had set by the time the two blacker than black eyes opened. They blinked together for the first time in six years and slowly scanned their surroundings. The mouth opened and closed, emitting just an incoherent gurgle. Slowly, as if each movement was a new experience, the body rose from the rock-strewn desert and looked around the dark desert. Not that there was anything remarkable to see on the dark night. The body got to its feet, wobbling as it tried to remember how to stand. A step. Another step. Soon, it had walked several meters away from its former grave. It took the first breath it had in a very long time, not that it really needed to breathe. The base for its form remembered the need to breathe and so it did. The figure looked up at the half Moon shining above it and let out a blood-curdling scream. Or tried to. It opened its mouth and a gravelly croak came out. "So weak." It looked around and then spoke again. "Must feed." It took a couple steps before looking down at its naked body. It frowned when it saw the female breast. Looking to the left of the breast, it saw the male body that had lay buried in the desert. It concentrated and its skin turned black. A breast formed on its right side. It looked confused as the breast on its left side disappeared at the same time and another body appendage shifted sides on its groin. It concentrated again and its skin turned black for several seconds. By the time the skin took on its normal olive-yellowish color, the breast and penis had reversed sides once again. A jagged, black scar ran down the length of its body where the two halves had been joined, one male half and one female half to be precise. The female half having swam across the Sea of Japan to reach continental Asia, of course. It tried to focus what little energy it had to only shift the gender of one half of its body, but soon found it was not possible. Exhausted from its rebirth and attempts to regain a single sex, Shuma slumped to the ground. "I am alone in this world of cattle, but where there's cattle there's energy for me to feed on." He looked at the distant horizon. "And to open new portals." -A- -M- -D- Back in Nerima, the peaceful silence of the dark Tendo house was rudely interrupted by a child's cry. Akane and her husbands rushed into Daiji and Yohachi's room to find their oldest daughter in the arms of a panda, since he had been the first to reach the crying girl. Tears were streaming out of Daiji's eyes. Ukyo stood nearby, with a sleepy Yohachi clutching her leg. Akane sat down next to Sanma and ran her hand through Daiji's hair. "What's wrong, Daiji?" "Head hurts..." Daiji muttered without looking up from where she was nestled into the panda's fur. "Awwwww..." Akane bent down and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll go away soon." [End - Chapter 4] Coming soon: Chapter 5: A Mammoth Battle ======================================================================= The real author's (Jim Lazar) notes/ramblings: He's back... err... she's back... err... Shuma's back. I'd like to thank my pre-readers Michael A. Chase, David Johnston, EBJ, and Thomas C. Kinnen for helping me find and fix problems with this story. FFML member Thierry Chartrand-Chamblay was also helpful in fine tuning this story. Thank you all. Of course in the end, any mistakes and botched characters are my fault. Revision 0.0 - Rough draft began (May 3, 2000) Revision 0.1 - Rough draft finished (May 17, 2000) Revision 0.3 - Pre-reader draft (August 27, 2000) Revision 0.4 - FFML draft (September 15, 2000) Revision 1.0 - Final version (October 22, 2000) Revision 1.1 - First RAAC posting (October 29, 2000)